stay at villablanca or casa mexicana? (diving with martin)

[scottfiji]

I am going to cozumel in april, I am considering DWM (dive with martin) for 5 days. I am looking at 2 hotels - casa mexicana and villablanca.

this is the scoop, from what I read -

casa mexicana- pros - great new hotel, in town
cons - no pickup from DWM (can I walk to plaza las glorias? he said on his web site he picks up from there. how long a walk is it?), small pool, no beach (how far is the nearest beach for swimming and/or snorkeling?)

villablanca - pros - beach across street, DWM picks up nearby, slightly cheaper
cons - must take a taxi into town or a long walk (how much is the taxi? how far is the walk? I have heard 1 mile and 2 miles...is the swimming/snorkeling nearby good?)


If someone could answer these questions, and add some more insight, that would be great!

thanks in advance,
Scott

 

[Ron Brandt]

Just spent Christmas there. The place is OK has a small american run "coffee shop ,bar" on site. Hog Town Cafe next door. Papa Hogs and Dive Paradise are accross the street and will offer a package with dives ,hotel and meals.

I dove with Pelagic Ventures/Troy Ruhr for the week for really exclusive diving.You can max out your computer on dive and go to the advanced sites .
Troy will also pick you up at the pier.

There was a fellow from Texas at the coffee shop every morning who got Dive With Martin business. Either from handouts at the Cruise Ships or from people he brought down.Dive With Martin seems to be hooking up with the cruise ships and thats his main customer base.

Villablanca was clean and the room was large. We did have a car rented so getting around was no problem but I did walk to town a couple of times and found it no big deal.

I stayed downtown the time befor and met the boat at the Pro Dive Pier.

I did like the fact of having a real nice shore diving spot right accross the street from Villablanca.

If you want to get hold of Troy and ask him some questions please PM me.
He is a fantastic guy,a former Canadian,lots of knowledge and really good service.
Ron

 

[DocVikingo]

Check your scubaboard.com e-mail.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[travelem]

Villablanca is a dump, I would never go back even it is free.
Blue Angel has a lot better room for similar price and location.
Papa Hogs also has nice rooms.

 

[Christi]

I am going to cozumel in april, I am considering DWM (dive with martin) for 5 days. I am looking at 2 hotels - casa mexicana and villablanca.

this is the scoop, from what I read -

casa mexicana- pros - great new hotel, in town
cons - no pickup from DWM (can I walk to plaza las glorias? he said on his web site he picks up from there. how long a walk is it?), small pool, no beach (how far is the nearest beach for swimming and/or snorkeling?)

villablanca - pros - beach across street, DWM picks up nearby, slightly cheaper
cons - must take a taxi into town or a long walk (how much is the taxi? how far is the walk? I have heard 1 mile and 2 miles...is the swimming/snorkeling nearby good?)


If someone could answer these questions, and add some more insight, that would be great!

thanks in advance,
Scott

but there is no longer pier access at Plaza Las Glorias. It is now closed for remodeling and will repopen in December under new management and as an all-inclusive. Only hotel guests will have access to this pier.

You may want to check with DWM to see where the alternative pick-up location will be.

 

[originaljonathan]

Casa Mexicana is a very attractive, spotlessly clean, new and modern hotel with rather striking architecture and includes a really outstanding breakfast buffet with custom-made omelets, eggs as you want them, fresh fruit, cereals, pastries, French toast, bacon, sausage, ham, etc. The rooms are pretty large and attractive with very nice bathrooms. There were no negatives for me, but some prefer a larger pool and beach access.

The Villablanca is a very tired old facility that is in need of either massive renovation or just plain old demolition. Their standard rooms are decidedly sub-standard, and I spent three days in one without any hot water (nada, none, not a drop of it) while they kept telling me it was fixed each day. If you get the free breakfast (not always included now), it is fairly sparse, but it can be taken at "Temptations" across the street (better) or the Hog Town Cafe (okay, but no frijoles and -- count 'em, no more than four one-inch French fries) or in the snack bar next to the pool (never tried because it opened too late for me to make my morning dive boat). After the hot-waterless three days, they moved me to a "suite" (really just a very large room) at no extra charge, but it was pretty dated and not especially attractive. Mind you, I got the room, including taxes and breakfast, for $46 per night (rack rate for the "standard room" was $63), and I don't think I'll repeat there even at that price. Taxi fare to town was $3.50US.

Casa Mexicana was about double the price I paid at Villablanca and well worth it. It would be my choice of the two, hands down! And BTW, I have made 38 trips to Coz and stayed in a lot of places, and, if the lesser price at VB is essential, there are better deals than that all over the island.

<')///><

 

[azsilver]

but there is no longer pier access at Plaza Las Glorias. It is now closed for remodeling and will repopen in December under new management and as an all-inclusive. Only hotel guests will have access to this pier.

You may want to check with DWM to see where the alternative pick-up location will be.

Hi Christi!

Greetings from Arizona!

What pier are you picking divers up from who are staying downtown now that the Plaza Las Glorias is no longer available?

AZ divers

 

[Christi]

Hi Christi!

Greetings from Arizona!

What pier are you picking divers up from who are staying downtown now that the Plaza Las Glorias is no longer available?

AZ divers

Downtown pier and all hotels south of town

 

[azsilver]

Downtown pier and all hotels south of town

Thanks for the information about the downtown pier!

AZ Divers

 

[azsilver]

Casa Mexicana is a very attractive, spotlessly clean, new and modern hotel with rather striking architecture and includes a really outstanding breakfast buffet with custom-made omelets, eggs as you want them, fresh fruit, cereals, pastries, French toast, bacon, sausage, ham, etc. The rooms are pretty large and attractive with very nice bathrooms. There were no negatives for me, but some prefer a larger pool and beach access.......

Casa Mexicana was about double the price I paid at Villablanca and well worth it. It would be my choice of the two, hands down! And BTW, I have made 38 trips to Coz and stayed in a lot of places, and, if the lesser price at VB is essential, there are better deals than that all over the island.

<')///><

We agree that Casa Mexicana is a great place to stay! The larger pool and beach access is not an issue for us as we are in Cozumel to dive. If we want to do the pool thing we just stay in Arizona. We go to different beaches during our surface intervals between dives.

AZ Divers